The Analysis Of Paralinguistic Features In Twitter Text

Oleh :
Sabila Rosdiana - C0308006 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

2012. Thesis: English Department of Faculty Letters and Fine Arts. SebelasMaret University. This research is conducted to analyze the use of paralinguistic features on Twitter by the users. The aims of this research are: (1) to describe the types of paralinguistic features used on Twitter, and (2) to describe the meaning of paralinguistic features used on Twitter by interpreting the use of paralinguistic features in each tweet. Thisis a descriptive qualitative research. It refers to the method of solving problems by collecting, classifying and interpreting the data of the research. The data were collected by using a purposive sampling. The source of data is tweet exploited by theAmerican celebrities, as the object of this research, on Twitter. The data are in the form of paralinguistic featuresemployed in the source of data. Thus, the data were analyzed one by one to find out the meaning of each paralinguistic features. The results of the research are as follows. First, there are six types of paralinguistic features employed by the users on Twitter,such as Abbreviations, Punctuations, Symbols, Capitalizations, Onomatopoeic and Emoticon. Second, by interpreting the tweetswith the context of situation when it was tweeted, every type of paralinguistic features exploited has some specific meanings. Besides, it is also found the same type of paralinguistic features but it has different meaning which depends on how the paralinguistic features is used in the tweet. Third, this research also shows that language is always changing. In this case, the emergence of Internet has made the language become more diverse and unique. On the other hand, thisparalanguage could also be called as a register to the user of Twitter. This research is intended to bring benefit for students who are interested in observing Internet Language (NetSpeak) with its unique form. Furthermore, it is also helpful for the new users of Twitter as it gives some information about how the language is treated on Twitter. Finally, this research can be used as reference or to give additional information about Internet Language (NetSpeak) and the use of paralanguage for the readers.